VEGETARIANISMEnvironment & lifestyle

« Tell me what you eat,

I shall tell you who you are. »

References

• Report One Voice• FAO : Livestock’s long shadow• WHO : Diet, nutrition and prevention of

illnesses• World Cancer Research Fund • California Livestyle Heart Trial• Inter-governmental Panel on Climate

Change• China Project• Framingham Heart Study

Content

• Industrial breeding has devastating consequences on the planet : deforestation, massive pollution, climate change, misuse of agriculture and crops, etc.

• 1 billion animals are slaughtered every week for their meat : 900 millions are chicken, 24 millions are pigs, 17 millions are sheep and goats, 6 millions cows and oxen

• Meat is one of the main causes of chronic diseases and deadly diseases related to the modern lifestyle

« I wish there were a way of consuming which protects the planet and treats animals and human beings as parts of Creation who deserve respect and attention. »

Rajendra Pachauri, President of IPCC - Peace Nobel Prize 2007 (with Al Gore)

Farm Animal Voice, n° 171, Autumn 2008

The 4 angles

• Impact on the environnement

• Impact on human health

• Impact on society

• Animal suffering

Breeding & Environment :AIR POLLUTION

Breeding is the 2nd industry to produce greenhouse gases (GHG - 18%).It is more important than all forms of transport all over the planet (13.5%).

Main GHG :• CO2 = 9%• methane (23 x > CO2) = 37% • nitrogen dioxide (30 x > CO2) = 65% • ammoniac (acid rain) = 67%

1kg of meat produces 36.4 kg of CO2

Breeding & Environment :WATER POLLUTION

• 13 billions tons of effluent every year• constant pouring of hormonal substances, antibiotics, and many forms of chemical substances into the rivers and underground water resources (water table) • drains water resources : 8% of the global human consumption • 7% of the global potable water is used to irrigate the fields to feed the animals• 4 billion human beings are facing lack of water

Breeding & the Environment :WORLD HUNGER

• 13 000 to 100 000 litres of water = 1kg of beef meat

• 2 to 4 000 litres of water = 1 litre of milk

• 2 400 litres of water = 1 hamburger (150 gr)

• 1 000 litres of water = 1kg of wheat flour

• 500 litres of water = 1kg of potatoes

Breeding & the Environment :WORLD HUNGER

• 2007 : world production is 2.1 billion tons of cereals • Half of it has been used to feed animals for their flesh and milk, not for the 800 000 human beings who starve• 90% of the world production of soya goes to the meat industry (cattle)• 1/20th of the production of cereals is used to produce bio-energy• 10kg of food are required to produce 1kg of beef, 1kg of pork

Breeding & Environment :GROUND & DEFORESTATION

• 1 hectar of cereals produces 5 times more proteins than 1 hectar used for meat production• Breeding and feeding animals occupy 1/3 of emerged lands, 70% of the global cultivated lands•Cutting down of trees ! 20% of the rain forests in South America disappeared in 40 years• 3/4 of the land has become fields to produce hamburgers• The other part of it produces soya to feed animals, not human beings

Breeding, diet & health :the logic of anatomy

• Human digestive tract measures up to 10 times their size• the closest species to humanity, apes are all vegetarian, or they eat very, very little meat• the stomach of animals eating meat produces powerful digestive acids, not the stomach of human beings• human jaws and teeth are intended to chew vegetarian food

Breeding, Diet & Health :tragic consequences

• The WHO has declared a world health crisis in all rich countries • All studies agree : there is definitely a link between meat and dairy product consumption with illnesses specific to rich countries • Heart disease, certain forms of cancer, hypertension, coronary accidents, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, obesity, etc. • The more that humans eat meat and dairy products, the more they are sick

Breeding, Diet & Health :tragic consequences

• WHO : heart diseases kill approximately 17 millions people every year. They are the first cause of death in Europe and the USA• The consumption of red meat and dairy products is responsible for absorbing a molecule potentially dangerous - a sugar, Neu5Ge. Scientists believe that it is part of the process that generates cancers and heart diseases• The form of cancer related to meat consumption is intestine cancer, the second most deadly cancer in rich countries

1) WHO : Diet, Nutrition and Chronic Illnesses.Illnesses which devastate the population in rich countries are linked to their rich diet, characterised by a high proportion of nutriments with an elevated percentage of energy from animal origin, nutriments with a high level of fat, sugar and salt. The WHO is warning the world : « The entire population of most rich countries presents a high risk profile. It is urgent to take on massive scale action. » The study pleads vigorously for a drastic reduction in the consumption of meat : « It is recommended to promote the production of vegetables and to put a limit on the consumption of meat and dairy products. »

Breeding, Diet & Health :tragic consequences

Breeding, Diet & Health :2 studies without any ambiguity

2) The World Cancer Research Fund:What is the link between diet and health?« Studies confirm that red meat and processed meat are causes for cancer of the intestine, and there is no quantity of processed meat that would not increase the risk. » The risk is so high that the Fund recommends never eat processed meat, that is, bacon, ham, sausages, and not to eat more than 300g red meat per week

« When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us, because their meat (...) was never meant for human beings. »

Dr William C. Roberts, chief editor of the American Journal of Cardiology

Breeding, Diet & Health :as a conclusion

Breedind & Animal Suffering :the most terrible facts

• « the suffering endured by the animals are so extreme that to eat these creatures, is like absorbing the abject sadness which depicts their existence (...) We absorb nightmares at breakfast, lunch and dinner. » John Robbins, Diet for a New America, 1987• « … many surgerical operations done to animals, such as castration, amputation of the tail, horns, teeth, beak, toes, are performed without any sort of anesthesia. » Professor Ian Duncan - “The Changing Concept of Animal Sentience - applied animal behaviour”

Breeding & Animal Suffering :a spirit beyond common sense

• « The modern henhouse is just a production machine, which transforms raw materials - food - into a final product - the egg - keeping in mind the maintenance issues. » Farmer and Stockbreeder, 1982• « A pregnant sow is considered and treated as a precious mechanical element, whose purpose is to produce piglets, exactly like a sausage factory. » National Hog Farmer, 1978 (cité par John Robbins dans A Diet For A New America, 1987)• « Stop thinking that a pig is an animal. Treat it simply like a machine in a factory. Plan its feeding in the same way as you would plan maintenance operations. Consider breeding as the first step in the assembly line, whereas trading is nothing else than the delivery of the final product. »Hog Farm Management, 1976

• The European legislation from 2005 aims to protect animals which need to be transported. But in 2008, the Animal Health Survey declared to the Commission that « they noticed no sign of improvement regarding the well-being of animals during their transport, since the new rules had been validated ».• According to the FAO, to transport animals on long distances is the best way to spread infectious diseases. Infectious diseases may spread easily and quickly on a large scale, but the stress endured by the animals during their transport make them even more vulnerable, subject to infections.

Breeding & Animal Suffering :one way ticket

• In the Rome Treaty from 1957, livestock is treated and classified as an agricultural product. Today, the European Union recognises that they are sensible beings; it is willing to forbid certain forms of industrial breeding, though nothing has changed since, in the majority of cases.• Cages for battery poultry will be considered illegal in the EU from 2012 onward. They may probably be improved just with a few details such as a perch.• « Even with the best conditions, animals prepared for human consumption suffer at one point or the other during their existence (...) the Commission recommends the suppression (in the USA) within 10 years, of all forms of intensive breeding which would prevent animals from moving freely and normally. »The Pew Commission, Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, 2008

Breeding & Animal Suffering : is a change possible?

« Nothing can be more beneficial for human health, or increase our chances

for survival on earth, than an evolution towards a vegetarian diet ».

Albert Einstein